Tubular lock



y 9, 1940- K. A; BRAUNING 2,207,143

- TUBULAR LOCK Filed Aug. 27, 1936 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. a. amt/9 BY MM AT TORNEYS.

TUBULAR LOCK Filed Aug. 27, 1936 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 ATTORNEYS.

Patented July 9,

UNITED STATES PATENT 'OF FlCE H Karl A. Brauning; Stamford, Com, assignor to The Yale & Towne Manufacturing Company, Stamford, Conn., a corporation of Connecticut Application August 27, I936, Serial No. 98,166

Claims; (CL 292,-337) Thisinvention relates to a lock of the type lock is known to the trade as a tubular lock, and 5 is mainly desirable because 0! the ease with which I it is applied to a door.

My invention contributes to the art a tubular lock in which the latch bolt, the latch bolt retracting mechanism and the knob operated means are readily adjustable laterally relatively to one another. Because of special features, it is quite simple to assemble my lock relatively to a door, and to adjust the mechanism 'to various door thicknesses More particularly, as to this phase of the in-' vention, my lock embodies a main casing assembled from two parts, one on each side of the door, in a manner well understood in the art, so as to form the main casing. Relatively to this main casing there is maintained in sliding lateral relationship, an auxiliary casing. This auxiliary casing preferably contains allthe operatingmechanism of the lock, such as the latch bolt retractor and the retractor operating roll- 25 back- I use rather unique detent means for locking the' auxiliary casing to the main casing inanyone of several laterally adjusted positions. As an improved feature of the invention, I maintain the retractor operating rollback in slid- 30 ing relation to a main knob operating spindle,

and preferably, this means of connection embodies a lug on the-rollback in sliding engagement with a slot'on the spindle.

3 to .lock the'outside knob through means housed operated cylinder and plug in the outside knob for retracting the latch bolt. It is customary also to employ a spring which projects the latch 40 bolt, and a further spring for maintaining at least the inside knob in a central position, since it is not possible to rely on the latch bolt spring to so maintain th knob, If the latch bolt spring were made sufliciently strong to position the in- .side knob fully, then the closing action of the door would be hindered, since relatively great force would be required to cam the latch-bolt back. v

The knob operation in locks of this type therefore requires the overcoming of the force of two springs. The knob action nevertheless remains fairly easy because considerable leverage is possible when one operates a relatively large knob. It is not possible, however, to obtain this leverage when the key operatai cylinder retracts the 'In locks i-the type described, it is customary.

' tractor.

latch bolt.- Therefore, where the key operates against both the knob balancing spring and the latch retracting spring, a very dimcult hard key action results. My invention provides an improvement over the usual key action in that I 5 employ a special rollback operated by the key and required to overcome only the force of the spring maintaining the latch bolt in projected position. This feature I call an easy key action feature.

More particularly deScribing the invention, it may be well to indicate that this easy key action feature is obtained by a special rollback, which I term a cylinder rollback, mounted in the auxiliary casing and maintained in sliding relationship to the spindle while freely rotatable thereon. An auxiliary sleeve mounted on the I spindle and in engagement with the key plug of the knob cylinder, rotates the rollback whenever the key plug is rotated. As a further feature of the invention, I provide a latch bolt housing cooperable with the latch bolt retracting mechanism for obtaining some adjustment for thicknesses of doors independently of the adjustment of the auxiliary c'aspressed only when connected to the retractor mechanism. In this way, the retractor spring operates not only on the retractor, but also on the latch bolt itself.

For a description of my invention, I shall nowv refer to the drawings wherein'Fig. 1 is a plan view of my invention showing certain of the parts in section. Fig. 2 is a section-taken on lines 22 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a view of a part of the latch bolt showing its relation to the resection taken along lines l2l2 of Figc' 10. Figs.

13 and 14 are respectively a side view and section of the spindle and knob operated rollback.

Figs. 15 and -16 are respectively i'ront'and side views of the cylinder operated sleeve oi my in- Fig. '4 is a partial section through the lock of my invention. Fig. 5 shows some of rollback and also the knob operated rollback in nested relation. Figs. 20 and 21 are respectively side and end views or the latch bolt retractor. Fig. 221.5 a view showing the retractor assembled relatively to the. auxiliary casing. Figs. 23

and 24 are partial sections oi parts of Fig. 22

illustrating the action or the rollbacks. is a view'ol one a the retractor.

Referring now more particularly to the draw- FiS. 25

ings, and e p cially to Figs 1 and 4, my lock comprises an outer knob lll in which is mounted a cylinder |l, and an inner knob I2 is which is ,mounted a thumb turn 13. The knob I0 is held assembled relatively'to an outer rose l4, while the knob i2 is held assembled relatively to a rose i5, the rose l5 being in turn supported on a plate l6, as is described in my co-pending application aforementioned. A balancing spring encircles the rose 5 and maintains it in a as central position and against rotation, in amanner quite well understood in this art.

' The plate i6 is secured to a pair of lateral extensions i8 of the rose M by screws I9 in a manher well understood in the art. An auxiliary cas- 80 ing 20 slides'relatively to the extensions i3, as.

is best shown in Fig. 2. Mounted on this auxiliary casing is a spring pressed pawl or'detent 2| projected by a spring 22, so that its end portion enters one of a series of slots 23 in one 85 or the extensions l8. It is quite apparent from Figs. 1 and 2 that the pawl or detent 2| may be readily operated at any time to remove its end from one of the slots 23, so that the auxiliary casing 20 may slide to a. second position wherein 40 the pawl 2| may enter one: of the other slots 23.

In this way, three adjusted positions or the auxiliary casing 29 relatively to the main casing ar easily obtainable.

In the auxiliary casing there is mounted a 5 sliding latch bolt retractor 24, maintained in projected position by a pair of springs 25a operating against pins 26 which fit into bored portions 21 of the retractor 24. The retractor 24 has shoulder lug portions 25 against which may 5 abut the cam portion 28 of a cylinder rollback 29. Against the lugs 25 may also operate the cam portion 39 of a knob and spindle operated rollback 3|. The two rollbacks are maintained in nested position in the auxiliary casing 20, as 5 is best illustrated in Fig. 4., As a matter of preferred construction, one of the lugs 25 does not extend as far as the other, so that rotation of the rollback 29 in but one direction will operate the retractor 24.

In Fig. 22, I show the retractor 24 mounted in the casing 20 and held fully projected by the springs 251; with both rollbacks in-th'eir neutral position. In Fig. 23, I illustrate rollback 3| in its neutral position. The rollback.29 is, how- 05 ever, rotated with its cam portion 28 against one of the lugs 25 or the retractor, and in this position, the 'retractor is in latch bolt retracting position. 24 held retracted by the cylinder rollback 3| '!0 through abutment of its cam portion 30 against one or the lugs 25.

While the spindle operation and knob operation per se form no part of this invention, yet'I .believe that it .will be best to describe briefly 15 their operation in order that a better appreciaoi the springs which project In Fig. 24, I illustrate the retractor:

tion or the present inventionfwill bepossible.

Fora detailed description, one may refer to my co'-pending application supra.

A hollow spindle .33, shown in Fig. 10. is splined to the inner knob |2 so as to be integrally rotatable therewith. This spindle is slotted as at 34 for sliding coaction with the lug 35 of the knob rollback 3|, so that that rollback will rotate integrally with the spindle 33 at all times. Thus, rotation 01 the knob |2 will always rotate the spindle 33 and rollback 3| through lug 35. At the same time, there exists a free sliding relationship between the two so that it is quite. simple to obtain lateral adjustment of the auxiliary casing carrying the rollback 3|, relatively to the spindle 33 and the main casing formed by the roses liand l5 and plate l6.

Maintained within the spindle 33 there is a sleeve-36 whose end surface is slotted at 31 for cooperation with tongue 38 of the thumb piece |3.-' Through means of a depressed portion 39, the sleeve 36 is maintained for integral sliding movement with the slide bar 40 which controls the locking balls '4| and the further locking balls 42, as is seen from Figs. 4 and 5. A pin 43 on the sleeve 36 operates in a cam slot 44 of the spindle 33, so that when thumb piece I3 is rotated, in turn rotating the sleeve 36, pin 43 engaging slot 44 will cause a forward movement of the sleeve 36 in the hollow spindle 33 and therefore a forward movement 01' the slide bar 40.

When the slide bar 49 is in its right hand position in Fig. 4, the balls 4| are held out of grooves 45 in the outside rose l4, and the knob i9 is free to rotate. At the same time, looking balls 42 will be maintained in an upward position illustrated in Fig. 4, in which position they will cause an engagement of parts now to be described' As was previously indicated, the outside knob J0 can'ies a cylinder II. This cylinder has a key plug Ila of the usual type which when rotated relatively to the knob and cylinder actuates sleeve 46 (Fig; 16) through lugs 41. This sleeve 46 has a pair of prongs 48 which fit into slots 49 of the rollback 29 for rotating that rollback independently of the spindle 33 about which the rollback 29 is mounted for free rotation.

When the locking balls 42 previously described are in the position of Fig. 4, they connect sleeve 46 with the spindle 33 so that rotation of the knob Ill, allowed because balls 4 are out of the slots 45 in Fig. 4,'will rotate the cylinder key plug ia, sleeve 46 and spindle 33, so as to rotate the two rollbacks together and retract .the latch bolt through the retractor 34. This retraction is 01' course resisted by the retractor springs 25a and the knob balancing spring I].

If, on the other hand, the thumb turn l3 has been rotated so as to move the slide bar 40 to its position in Fig. 5, the balls 4| will now be maintained within the grooves 45 so as to maintain the outer knob I9 locked. At the same time. sleeve 46 is now maintained out of engagement with the spindle 33, due to the dropping of the balls 42," so that, as a matter of fact, knob ill and cylinder II are released from the spindle 3.3, and rotation of the spindle33 independently of the knob ill by the inner'knob i2 is possible. Ii, however, it now becomes desirable to rotate the rollback 29 from the outside to retract the latch bolt, a key need only be inserted in the key plug Ha, which is then rotated in the regular manner, rotating sleeve 46 and rollback 29 as best shown in Fig. 23, thus retracting the usual 7 latch bolt. This operation is of course resisted only by the springs 25a, so that I obtain a very easy key action.

My latch bolt housing which is shown in Fig. 1, is of the usual sleeve type andholds-a latch bolt 5!. The tail of the latch bolt 5! is a screw threaded pin 52 having an eye 55. An auxiliary latch bolt 53 is utilized and cooperates with the latch bolt 5| in a manner well understood in the art. The latch bolt BI is not spring actuated in any way except through its connection with the retractor 24.

This connection is through means of a pin 54 extending from the retractor 24 and into the eye 55 of the pin member 52. Because of the relation between the pin 54 and the eye 55, best illustrated in Figs. land 3, it is possible-to obtain a lateral adjustment between the latch boltand its retractor 24, and it is also possible to obtain some slight vertical adjustment, all of which is highly desirable in a lock of this type.

I now claim:

1. In a door look a main casing formed of an inner portion extending from the inside of the door, and an outside portion extending from the outside of the door, and with the two portions in adjustable relation to provide for varying door thicknesses, an auxiliary casing having latch bolt retracting mechanism and mounted for lateral sliding movement in said main casing, and a spring pressed detent carried by one of said casings and fitted into one of several cooperating detent portions in the other of said casings for securing said auxiliary casing in one of several adjusted positions.

2. In a lock, a main casing formed of an inner portion extended from the inside of the door. and an outside portion extending from the outside of the door, and with the two portions in adjustable relation to provide for varying door thicknesses, an auxiliary casing having latch bolt retracting mechanism and mounted for lateral movement in said main casing, a'latch retracting spindle, means whereby said spindle and latch bolt retracting mechanism are in sliding relation to permit relative lateral movement of said latch bolt retracting mechanism while maintaining said mechanism in operating engagement with said spindle, and detent means for securing said auxiliary casing in one of several adjusted posi- 5 tions relatively to said main casing.

3. In a look, a main casing formed of an inner portion extending from the inside of the door,

and an outside portion extending from the out- 1 side of the door, and with the two portions in ad- Justablerelation to provide for varying door thicknesses, an auxiliary casing mounted for lateral movement in said main casing, latch bolt retracting mechanism in said auxiliary casing, a latch retracting spindle, means whereby said spindle and latch bolt retracting mechanism are in sliding relation to permit relative lateral movement of said latch bolt retracting mechanism while maintaining said spindle in operating engagement with said auxiliary casing inone of several adjusted positions relatively to one of said portions comprising said main casing.

4. In a door lock, a main casing formed of an inner portion extending from the inside of the door and an outside portion extending from the outside of the door, and with the two portions in adjustable relation to provide for varying door. thicknesses, an auxiliary casing having a latch bolt retracting mechanism and mounted for lateral sliding movement in said main casing, and

.said mechanism, and detent means for securing 1 means on said auxiliary casing cooperable with any one of several means on one of the portions comprising said main casing for securing the auxiliary casing to said main casing in any one oi? several adjusted positions.

5. In a door lock, a main casing formed by the joining together of two portions extending from the inside and outside of the d0or ,.-a'n auxiliary casing having latch bolt operating means and slidable laterally on said main casing, and a spring pressed detent for'securing said auxiliary casing to said main casing in any one of several positions. I

6. In a door look, a main casing formed by the Joining together of two portions extending from the-inside and outside of the door, an auxiliary casing having latch bolt operating means and slidable laterally on said main casing, and means on one of said casingscooperable with any one of. spaced means on the other of said casings for securing said, auxiliary casing to said main casing in any one of several positions.

, 7. In a door look, a main casing formed by the joining together of two portions extending from the inside and outside of the door, an auxiliary casing having latch bolt operating means and of said casings cooperable with any one of spaced slidable on said maincasing, and means on one means on the other of said casings for securing said-auxiliary casing to said main casing in any.

one of several positions.

10. In a door look, a main casing, an auxiliary casing having latch bolt retracting means and slidable on said main casing, and means on said auxiliary casing cooperable with any one of sev- ,eral spaced means on said main. casing for securing said auxiliary casing to said main casing in any one of several positions.

KARL a mourns. 

